The Chaos Code
by Scribbledydee
Summary: My version of Book 4. PJ and friends set off to find a god that may prove instrumental in the war that is beginning. Meanwhile, there will be a terrible sacrifice to make...
1. Chapter 1: I Get a Rude Awakening

CHAPTER 1 – I GET A RUDE AWAKENING

Okay, to put it politely, after battling freaky skeletons with burritos and Guacamole Grandes, trading insults with an aeons-old Titan with a severe hump that wasn't the sky resting on his back for several millennia, holding up the aforementioned sky for what felt like days and then dancing all night with the daughter of the goddess who wants to obliterate me to kingdom come, a guy like me deserves some decent sleep.

So imagine just how wound up I get when I don't.

I was lying asleep, so tired the night before that I'd slumped straight on top of the duvet instead of tucking myself into it. And I started to dream of my enemies. Now these aren't just the average school bullies – these are the ones that want to kill you and the rest of the world in the process of it. So now Nancy Bobofit and Matt Sloane are like kittens compared to these things.

_Luke, _the being inside the sarcophagus whispered in the deep voice that makes Darth Vader sound like a ten-year-old choirboy, _you have failed me._

"It wasn't my fault!"

I turned to look at Luke. He was even worse than he had been last year. His hair had been reduced to a deathly white, to match his pasty complexion. He had grown tall, gaunt and haggard, as if you could just touch him and he'd disintegrate.

"It was Thalia – I told you that she was dangerous! And that Percy Jackson kid again!"

_You know full well that I do not tolerate failure at such magnitude._

"Master, I promise that I will not fail again!"

_But is that a real promise? Or does it need some – encouragement?_

A long red tendril of electricity snaked out from the ajar lid of the sarcophagus, and lunged at Luke, who could not react fast enough. He could only scream as electrical energy enveloped him, and he was brought, yelling, to his knees.

He moaned with relief when the bolt relinquished, and slithered back into the coffin. The voice laughed in a kind of sick merriment.

At that moment, I could feel a twinge of sympathy in my stomach for Luke at that time. He had tried to kill me so many times, and had orchestrated a plan that could have brought down the whole of Western civilisation. Yet seeing him here, defeated and broken, brought on a tiny speck of remorse.

_You are nothing to me, Luke, _Cronos snarled, _so I can kill you on the least of whims. After your repeated ineptitude, I shall have to use somebody to baby-sit you._

Luke's eyes widened in horror as Cronos begin to laugh once again mercilessly. He turned and stumbled from the cave, limping and terrified, with his lord's merciless laughter echoing behind him.

"Percy? Percy!"

I woke up, groaning, and my vision slid into focus to see Annabeth Chase standing over me, looking annoyed. She was wearing an expression almost identical to that of the time when I had soaked her when causing the toilets to backfire – in shock.

"Annabeth? Whuzzit?"

Annabeth pursed her lips, and her intelligent grey eyes traversed me from head to toe. I made a suitably confused noise.

"What?"

She gave a tiny cough, a re-emphasised her survey of my body. And then it hit me quite painfully that I was sitting up in front of one of my best friends in my underwear.

"I'll leave you to get dressed," she sighed, and strode out of the room. Her expression had been quite haughty, but I was sure that she was fighting to suppress a smile from spreading across her face.


	2. Chapter 2: My mom loves a Blowfish

CHAPTER 2 – MY MOM LOVES A BLOWFISH

When I arrived in the kitchen, actually dressed, the smell of frying bacon caught my nose. Now _that _was a smell that didn't crop up often. The last time we had had bacon, it had been Christmas – a special occasion.

"What's the occasion?" I asked my mom, who was standing by the stove, vigilantly frying away. She turned to look at me.

My mom, Sally Jackson, is probably the best thing that's happened to me. Especially with the blue candy – now that is one of the nice bits of having a mom like her…

"I'll tell you at the table, honey," she smiled. "You're going to love the news."

Okay. That was strange. My mom actually seems happy about something for once. She hadn't had many happy moments in her life – Smelly Gabe was the only the start of it, and he had been a world-record-breaking jerk…

I sauntered across to the table, where Annabeth was talking avidly about modern architecture with my mom's tutor, Mr Blowfish – Blofis. Although he kept telling us to call him Paul. He seemed completely fazed by the fact that a seemingly average-looking teenager was talking to him about the 'constructional wonder of the Hoover Dam'. I still hadn't told her that we had been there and did a tour (along with cracking dam annoying jokes – there I go again) while she had been the prisoner of the enemy.

"Morning, Seaweed Brain," she said absent-mindedly, before returning to a lecture that her mom, Athena the goddess of wisdom, would have been proud of. I cringed as I remembered that same goddess was the one who wanted to tear me apart limb from limb to stop me destroying Mount Olympus when I reached my sixteenth birthday. That was only a year away – I was going to be fifteen soon. And the spring vacation was flying by.

"Heard any from camp yet?" I interrupted her architectural rant. If I listened to any more of that stuff, my head was going to implode – and I heard that wasn't going to do anything to improve my pretty appalling looks.

"No." Annabeth frowned. "It's weird though – Chiron hasn't told us anything. Cronus has been quiet recently – like he's biding his time. Mount Olympus is getting – "

I gave a little false cough to disguise the "Shut up!" I had sent along with it. Mom and I had decided not to tell Mr Blowfish – sorry, Blofis – anything about the fact that I was a demigod on whose shoulders most probably rested the fate of the whole Western civilisation, for fear that his head was going to implode too. I gave a little nod towards said Blowfish – dammit – and Annabeth caught wind of it.

"The big guys and girls upstairs are getting twitchy – they're getting together at the equinoxes as well as the solstices."

"Equinoxes?"

"They're the spring and autumn versions of the summer and winter solstices. The Vernal Equinox – the one coming up – is on March 21st."

"Yikes. Do they want us there?"

"No – all they do is talk and talk and when they get really fired up they start acting like a soap opera."

"Aphrodite thinks I'm some kind of soap opera star," I muttered a bit too loudly.

"What was that?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing," I replied, going red. The stuff that I talked about my Aphrodite was a bit too embarrassing for me to tell Annabeth. She regarded me with those sky-grey eyes, and I knew at once that she could tell there was something wrong. I hid my face and decided to concentrate on something else. A sunflower.

A sunflower that was being eaten by a winged horse.

A sunflower that was being eaten by a winged horse that I recognised.

"Blackjack!" I said out loud.

Everybody turned and looked at me. Even my mom had taken her eyes off the bacon to stare at me. I crumbled slightly under their gazes.

"Um…Blackjack…you play it, right?"

They kept on staring at me, as if my small day-trip from the hospital had been all too much for me. None of them had noticed the enormous winged horse standing behind them munching the sunflower quietly.

"I need to go use the bathroom," I murmured. I was feeling queasy anyway – especially from the way Annabeth had just looked at me. On the way out I beckoned Blackjack to come too.

I let the bathroom door close behind me and I turned to face Blackjack.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

_I'm just delivering a message, boss._

"Don't call me that."

_Sure, boss._

"I mean it! What message?"

_Message from big pony guy – Chiron, that's the one – he wants you to come to camp._

"That's it?" I growled. I had been expecting something a little more descriptive.

_No. He added one of those P.S. things. He wants you to come to camp right now. He's sending over satyr guy who's on the coffee._

"Grover?" my heart leapt. I hadn't heard from Grover since last winter, when he had started looking for Pan again.

_That's the one, boss. Coffee Guy's on his way over right now._

"Right now?"

_Sure, boss. And by the way, when are we gonna get doughnuts drive-thru in New Jersey?_

"Some time, Blackjack," I replied. "Now scoot!"

_Scoot – I like that word, boss._

"And stop calling me boss!"

_Sure, boss._

With that, Blackjack spiralled and soared through the bathroom window, knocking over most of the things that weren't stuck down in the process. Ouch.

I returned back to the kitchen, where Annabeth had finally found the breathing space to let Blowfish – oh, what the hell, I'll just keep on calling him that – talk about the writing seminar with my mom. He wasn't a jerk like Smelly Gabe, who nobody deserved, but he wasn't exactly – compatible. He kept trying to make me more school-ish (if that's even a word) which isn't an easy task when I have ADHD and dyslexia. But he made my mom happier than she had been, and that was what counted. Gabe failed both.

"Annabeth," I interrupted Blowfish again, "we need to go to camp."

"Why?" Annabeth retorted. "I only got here last night."

"Blackjack came over, and Chiron wants us back."

"Did he say why?"

"No."

"That's just so irritating – Chiron never tells us anything. Why can't people just tell us things? It'd make our lives so much easier!" Annabeth growled. I noticed that I wasn't the only one getting hormonal.

"Percy honey," my mom called, "sit down. I'm serving up."

We sat down, and tucked hungrily into our bacon. And then I remembered something I had asked earlier.

"Mom, what is the occasion?"

My mom glanced at Blowfish and took his hand tenderly. Electricity could have sparked off it right then. And then I noticed the sparkling new ring on her finger. My mouth just hung open in shock to the point where I could have fitted an entire watermelon into it.

"Paul's asked me to marry him. Isn't that great?"

I was too stunned to answer. Annabeth decided to answer in my place.

"That's great! I'm so happy for you two!"

"And that's not all," she continued, smiling thankfully at Annabeth. She pointed down at her stomach.

Okay, let's get things straight. I thought my mom had been getting overweight recently – she didn't get out the house much because she was still studying for her writing seminar. It was then I realised that in the place of her stomach, there was a rounded bump.

"You're getting a little brother. Isn't that great?"

My mouth upgraded to the size of a basketball.


	3. Chapter 3: The Lamborghini Returns

CHAPTER 3 – THE LAMBORGHINI RETURNS

"We were thinking about names," my mom continued as if nothing had happened. "We thought that we should ask you. What about – I don't know – Grover?"

My eyes proceeded to match the cavernous size of my mouth. Blowfish decided to intervene.

"Percy, if you're – "

"No, I'm fine," I stammered, while my face stated the exact opposite. "I just need the bathroom again."

Two lies in a row – not good for my conscience. I stumbled out of my chair, and, shaking like a San Francisco earthquake, hobbled out of the room. I ran across the hall and into my room, forgetting to lock the door behind me, as any sensible stropping teenager would do.

I heard Annabeth across the hall, saying something about moody teenagers to my mom and my accidental Blowfish stepfather, before tramping across the floorboards and into my room. She shut the door behind her, and turned to face me, arms folded and a vicious look spread right across her face.

"Well, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "It could've gone worse."

"What do you mean?" I said, raising my head from the pillows. That was a warning sign.

"I mean, all Poseidon's – sorry! – kids inherit their father's qualities."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I bellowed.

"What is your problem, Salty Sea Spit-wad?" Annabeth snapped. "You're just being a jerk now!"

"I'm the jerk now?" I snapped. "You make me sound like Gabe!"

"Well," Annabeth screamed, "perhaps that was deliberate! Perhaps you are just a rancid, nauseating, antagonism-provoking quakebuttock!"

If I had understood a single insult in that last sentence, and modern chivalry hadn't existed, Annabeth would be in headlock by now. And I was just about to rebound in insults, perhaps with what people might call 'colourful language', when a familiar voice and a revving engine came outside of the window.

"Hey! Percy! Annabeth!" Grover shouted with excitement coursing through his voice. "Check it out!"

I leant out the window, face flushed with the heat of my argument with Annabeth. Without giving said Wise Girl a single glance, I slung several clothes into a suitcase, packed a rucksack, and walked out. I didn't stop to look at Annabeth's face, but I could sense it was annoyed.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Annabeth stormed past me, shoving me into the hat stand at the front door of our apartment building. It had been an hour now, and still she hadn't plucked the nerve to speak to me. The porter gave me an odd look and shifted his attention back to his magazine.

"Hey guys," Grover bounded out of his new Lamborghini, looking like a person with dubious mentality in his enormous sombrero and giant poncho that passed his knees, "whaddya think?"

"Wicked, Grover man," a sly little smile, one that I thought I had not had for years, spread across my face. It was taking most of my willpower not to burst out laughing at the sight of this Mexican-esque satyr bounding towards me in fake feet. "Nice sombrero."

"That's not all," Grover's grin continued, as he re-adjusted the sombrero and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Look who I brought along for the ride."

I looked over Grover's shoulder and saw Annabeth chatting with a girl of about fifteen or sixteen, wearing a punk outfit and a bow slung over her shoulder. She caught my gaze as I caught hers, and greeted me:

"Seaweed Brain," She strode up to him, and hugged him. "How are you?"

"Fine," I said without daring to look at Annabeth. "And you?"

"Let's save it for the car, shall we?" Grover said anxiously, holding the back door open. "We've got a long way to Long Island and I have a feeling Chiron wants us pretty urgently."

"Fine," Thalia said roughly. "We'll talk in the car, shall we?"

I was bundled into the car, as far away from Annabeth as possible. She took the front seat with Grover, while I was stuck in the back with Thalia. Grover revved up the engine and sped away.

"How's life been with the Hunters?" I asked Thalia as we began to leave Manhattan.

"It's only been three months," Thalia began, "but it's amazing how quick the Hunters are. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to keep up with them. We've caught so many monsters in the past few months. They're all still in mourning for Zoë Nightshade but I think that only spurs them on even more. Zoë…"

I let the silence hang for an awkward amount of time. Thalia and Zoë, although not completely at each other's throats, were bitterly at war during Zoë's life. If Cronus and the Titans did not cause World War Three, Thalia and Zoë were just about to.

"Aargh, out of gas," Grover groaned, kicking the inside of the car. "Can you guys see a gas station on this road anywhere?"

"Over there, on the right," Annabeth pointed to a rickety old gas station perched on the side of the road. It looked so derelict that even Nereus, the hobo Old Man of the Sea would have been ashamed to live there.

I was trying hard to avoid looking at her, but I felt immobilised by the sight of her chilling grey eyes in the mirror. I finally managed to break them away as we pulled up against a pump.

Grover got out of the car confidently enough but he returned seconds later, looking dejected already.

"Okay, do any of you guys know how to work a gas pump?"

"I'll show you, Grover," I sighed, giving my old friend a hand. "I've seen my mum do it enough to know how."

Grover slightly reluctantly operated the pump under my instructions, and jumped so high with excitement when he finished that he could easily have concussed himself on the ceiling.

"I did it!" he almost squealed, and then his face fell. "But I don't remember how to do it now."

"Grover, you've got a long way to go with this Lamborghini," I sighed. "And now we have to pay."

Grover's face fell so far it was like the Mariana trench.

"We have to pay?" he said in a small voice.

"Of course," I laughed bitterly. "Blowfish says that nothing's free, but he's a cynical git."

"He's only a cynical git to you because he's going to be your stepfather," Annabeth replied irritably, stepping out of the Lamborghini and primly shutting the door behind her. She was actually talking to me now.

"You're a fine one to talk when it comes to step-parents, Miss Wise Girl!" I replied.

"Whoa, Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson, keep your domestics away from us!" Thalia laughed. I stared at her. It wasn't exactly funny.

"Percy, your mom and Blowfish – oh, you've got me saying it now – are getting married?" Grover gasped. "That's great!"

"And his mom's pregnant," Annabeth added sneeringly. She was really rubbing the salt in now. Grover missed the bitter edge completely. "He's got a little brother on the way."

"Double great!" Grover punched the air.

"Double trouble," I retorted. "In case you hadn't noticed, my stepfather résumé isn't exactly brilliant! What if he turns out like Gabe? Nice to us before the wedding and then he becomes a complete jerk?"

"He won't," Thalia tried to reassure me.

"And I've already got Tyson for a half-brother!" I was almost choking with anger now. "And look how he turned out!"

"Tyson is a Cyclops," Annabeth said testily. "Cyclopes and humans are totally different. I think Thalia and I found that out quite thoroughly all those years ago."

Was she trying to play up the sympathy? It wasn't working with me.

"Annabeth's right," Thalia was forced to admit. "Now are we going to pay for this or not?"


	4. Chapter 4: Goddess on Community Service

CHAPTER 4 – WE MEET A GODDESS ON COMMUNITY SERVICE

"Whoa," said Grover as he entered the shop, and gazed down the aisles, "this place is so cool. Just look at all those cans! Sweet aluminium cans…"

"Eww, Grover!" Thalia shouted. "You're dribbling over the chocolate!"

The shop was deserted apart from the checkout woman, a lady in her early forties with a scraped-back ponytail. She was picking at her (obviously fake) nails obsessively, and chewing on some gum. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that cows were now being employed.

She appeared to have heard my thoughts, as her icy eyes suddenly shot around and directed at me. I felt an invisible blade of frost stab through my chest. That woman gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Annabeth was looking purposefully bored, since this building had no obvious bit of interesting architecture. Grover was gnawing thoughtfully at an aluminium can, which I had never thought possible up to now. Thalia was browsing the fridges for an energy drink, before seeing a satyr in a poncho and sombrero sombrely munching on a can.

"Grover! Other people are going to buy those!"

"Tastes too good…" Grover murmured.

I wasn't listening. I was still too mad at Annabeth for being such a Hippocrates – hypercritic – it'll come to me some day. She said I hated my soon-to-be stepdad for no reason at all – but her stepmom was nice and Annabeth still pushed her away. Or maybe I thought she was nice because she made us cookies.

"Do you reckon they have enchiladas here?" Grover wondered aloud. "Or coffee? Mmm…that's what I need…I nice and strong cup of coffee…"

"Earth to Grover!" Thalia yelled as Grover crashed headfirst into a fridge of cold drinks. Grover fell over woozily, before perking up again at Thalia's shout.

"Earth?" Grover pressed his ear against the floor frantically, despite being semi-conscious. "Mother Earth is calling to me? Where? Speak, Mother Earth, speak! Tell me where Pan is!"

"She's not answering," yawned the checkout lady. "Look – the last I heard of Gaea, she was turning Daphne into a laurel tree after Apollo harassed her. And trust your friend over there, that's not a pleasant experience."

Thalia squirmed with the lingering memory.

"I expected she's retired finally." The woman deftly picked at her nails. "You'll have to leave a message on her answering machine or something."

"Mother Earth has an answering machine?" Grover said in amazement. I really felt for that guy sometimes. Being about thirty in satyr years but only having the brain of someone at least half that age must have been hard for him.

"Next time you come by a dictionary on one of your quests, ask you satyr friend here to look up the word _sarcasm_. It may be beneficial for him."

"Wait," I said, "you know Grover's a satyr."

"It's obvious considering his disguise is absolutely terrible," she laughed. Grover looked sorely offended, and hugged his sombrero closer to his chest.

"And you know about Mother Earth!"

"You really are quite slow, aren't you?"

"Oh my god," Annabeth spoke for the first time since we entered the shop, "you aren't _her_, are you?"

"Thank goodness you are not all clouded in the brain. I am Eris, the goddess of strife and discord."

"Then what's a goddess like you doing working at a gas station just outside of Manhattan?" I asked rather bluntly. It just seemed pretty crazy. I half expected to find Cronus cleaning the toilets at the next McDonalds that we came to, chronic acne and the whole package.

"The gods sent me down here to this horrible little place for just one little prank to do _menial mortal tasks_," Eris pronounced the last three words with quite nasty poison.

"Zeus, that has to be boring," Grover said.

"I pass the time using my only power, strife, to provoke the Alphabetti Spaghetti to fight each other. They tend to explode in people's hands and spell out rude things on their forehead. Watch out for that."

I was trying to fight a laugh, but so far the laugh was winning. Thalia shot a glare at me.

"Seaweed Brain – don't."

"Seaweed Brain?" Eris noted interestedly. "You'd be one of Poseidon's sons? I haven't seen one of them in ages."

"You sound as if you get half-bloods in here all the time," Annabeth said pointedly.

"It's strange – like they're drawn to this gas station," Eris muttered. "Like any monster's lair. Yet none of them seem to have the courtesy to show any respect to a senior goddess."

She glared at me, and that frosty dagger was in my chest once again. Once she relented, I felt the desire to laugh creeping on again. And Thalia was still on my case.

"Percy – don't. Eris," Thalia hesitated, glancing up at the goddess, "managed to start the Trojan War with just an apple."

"It's amazing what you can do with fruit," Eris declared. "Although to be more accurate, I set off a chain of events that led to the Trojan War, but the gods needed to somebody to blame for ten years of carnage, and Ares wouldn't let any of them blame Aphrodite for it."

"And you're proud of it?" Annabeth said, her face becoming as cartoon-like as Mickey Mouse on Steamboat Willie.

"Of course I'm proud of that little stunt of mine. Enough strife to go around certainly. Although that certainly did not compare to that other little stunt with the kumquat that ensured that war was actually invented. I think Ares still owes me that debt."

"Wasn't that the entrails-expelling one?" Annabeth sounded disapproving.

"Yes, quite amusing. Pity the camcorder had not yet been invented," Eris sighed.

"She's a goddess on community service!" I was beginning to utterly lose control. I sank down against the fridge, clutching my stomach.

"Let me assure you, Perseus Jackson," Eris snapped, "if the gods had not stripped me of all of my powers except strife when they banished me here, I would blast you to smithereens, sweep up the ashes and then form them into something worthwhile, like a paperweight. Or a bookend. You'd make a brilliant bookend."

You had to admit that she certainly had style.

"Guys," Grover swallowed, "don't look now but what in the name of all the gods, demigods and anyone else on the immortal scene are those?"

I gulped as creatures began to lurch out of nowhere and started to lunge towards the shop. Each was seven feet tall and made entirely from gas. And they weren't exactly coming across as friendly. Annabeth just uttered one word:

"Sheut."

I wasn't sure whether she was swearing or naming, but now wasn't the time. Even when she was your worst enemy, Annabeth was impossible to ignore.

"_ZEU KAI ALLOI THEOI_!" Eris cursed. "No stopping them now – they'll choke us all to death."

"So which myth are they from?" I asked Grover, because Annabeth was hardly the friendliest of people towards me at this point in time.

"None," Grover yelped. "Some monsters were deemed too terrible to be even spoken about – too terrible to even enter the myths passed on through the generations. This lot were lucky to even be given a name. The Great Stirring means that more and more creatures like this are going to be coming."

"They're easy to defeat – they're just gas," I suggested. "So we just explode them, right?"

"And I suppose you want to be doing to blowing up, right?" Thalia snapped, barricading the door with anything she could lay her hands on. Grover had to flee to avoid being used as a defense. "You'd never clear the explosion."

"All those stockades are no use," Eris intervened. "They're just gaseous life forms. They'll wisp in through the doors. Curse those gods – if I had just a scrap of power left apart from strife, I'd beat these smoky twerps with the blink of an eyelid."

"Back door!" Grove yelled, and we all lunged for wherever one was. We scrambled through the network of corridors, and bundled out through the back door and into the back yard. Gas was all through the air – the things were getting closer.

And then I had a plan. An incredibly crazy, zany plan, which was therefore totally worthy of me. Not only was it all that, but it was also incredibly stupid.

"I'm going back inside."

"What?" Even Annabeth was against it. "Seaweed Brain – you can't."

"Then I've got one word for you, Annabeth Chase," I snarled. "Just watch me."

That was actually three.

I raced back indoors, jumping over the falling cupboards. Another employee looking through the stock shouted:

"Oy you, kid! Stop! Is it you set the gas off?"

I gagged on the heavy gas, but took no notice. I finally arrived in the shop with a crash as several shelves of food went flying, and very quickly exploding. Splattered with Alphabetti Spaghetti, I set about lighting anything flammable. Candles with matchsticks, cigarette lighters, I even pulled the lighting out from the ceiling. I looked out of the window – the gas monsters were getting closer. The front ones were practically at the door.

Swearing, I sprinted back through the shop, dragging the startled-to-say-the-least assistant with me. I lunged through the fire exit just as the shop blew up Bond-style behind me.

Coughing on the smoke, I brought myself to my feet. I could hear the sirens of the fire engines blaring as they came closer. I figured we needed to leave. Quickly.

"Thanks, Seaweed Brain," Thalia said coldly. "Grover's devastated that you blew up his Lamborghini. And did you know what the spaghetti's spelling across your forehead?"

She let me look at my reflection in her bracelet/Aegis. I was not amused to find the word IDIOT spread across my forehead.

"That is just not funny," I said frankly, as the others burst out laughing silly.

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We had to walk the rest of the way to Camp Half-Blood. And the spaghetti had decided it liked it on my forehead and it decided to stay there, sunbathing.

Thalia grimaced at the sight of her pine tree on top of Half-Blood Hill as we crossed the property line. Below in the valley, Camp Half-Blood was silent. Only the gentle whisper of the wind through the leaves remained there.

"Where's everybody gone?" Annabeth frowned. Grover's eyes turned fearful.

"You don't think Luke got here and –"

"Nonsense," Eris interrupted. "Luke would have burnt this damn place to a roast potato if he had attacked. Or at least taken all of the strawberries."

Luke and Cronus sharing a picnic of freshly picked strawberries was quite a disturbing thought in my mind. A golden sarcophagus using electric tendrils to pick up strawberries was also. I still hadn't told anybody about the dream I had had last night.

"Perhaps it's one of those wind-ups," I wondered aloud. "A surprise birthday party or something?"

"As far as I know, it's not anybody's birthday," Annabeth grizzled.

"Stay where you are and hold your hands high in the air!" a familiar voice shouted. Too familiar for comfort.


	5. Chapter 5: Annabeth ends up on the Roof

CHAPTER 5 – ANNABETH ENDS UP ON THE ROOF

"Alright," the familiar voice said, "now show yourselves, monster!"

"Clarisse?" Annabeth choked. "It's us! None of us are monsters in disguise!"

Clarisse lowered her electric spear, repaired from the time I broke it during my first ever Capture the Flag contest. Coils of blue electricity tingled up and down in a warning sign.

"Sure about that?"

"Ask me any question," Annabeth said irritably. Clarisse pursed her lips in thought for a second. I had never actually seen Clarisse think before – now it was comparable to that of a gorilla.

"Give me four facts about the Hoover Dam."

"Over two hundred metres tall," I said instantly.

"Largest construction project in the United States," Grover sighed.

"Built in the 1930s," Thalia added.

"Containing five million cubic acres of water," Annabeth finished without remembering to breathe. I whistled. Sometimes having an annoying friend like Annabeth had its advantages.

Clarisse raised her eyebrows.

"I'll take your word for it," she said, sheathing her spear. "Sorry about that – monsters have been getting into camp by disguising themselves as half-bloods, so we've had to double security."

"Where's Chiron?" I burst out.

"Calling out the centaurs for war," Clarisse replied. "Centaurs and humans have never been good with each other so Chiron's trying to convince them to join our side and be useful instead of getting wasted."

I remembered the Party Ponies two years ago in Miami. Now _they_ were just odd.

"Mr D's taken over completely," Clarisse continued. "He's actually bothering about us now – that's what war's doing to people."

Annabeth nodded wisely, and had the same knowing look that I had seen in her mother's eye last year. And then I remembered her words – the words that had freaked me out like nothing else had ever.

_And should you begin to waver in your loyalties…_

And then she had fixed me with that stare that haunted me. I shivered as the spring breeze blew. Annabeth was looking at me while speaking to Clarisse, fixing that same icy stare upon me now.

"Yeah – that's what war's doing. We all need to stick together – and talk to each other. In times like this, each day could be the last time you would ever see somebody. Each day could be your last. Our families – they will be the ones that are targeted. We can't afford to lose them without saying goodbye."

I turned my face away from her. Although she was talking to Clarisse, I could tell that she was talking directly to me. I stormed off to cabin number three.

As soon as I got in, I inhaled. I had not smelt the fresh salty smell of the cabin for only three months, yet it felt like aeons.

I was still thinking about what Annabeth had said. Damn it. No wonder her mom was the goddess of wisdom – it showed. I fished around in my pocket, and pulled out a drachma. I looked at it, turning it over and over in my hands. My last golden drachma. Who should I call on?

There was my mom. I hadn't even stopped to say goodbye to her. It was like two years ago – I had just run away without even saying goodbye or telling her where I'd be going. I thought it would be obvious but –

I could try to find Nico di Angelo. But I had no idea where the kid was. And even then, he wouldn't want to speak to me. I still felt guilty about him, and I had no idea whose side he was on. I just hoped that Luke had not caught up with him, because then there would be no hope.

I could try my dad. But he was likely to be busy – but we still hadn't talked in ages. He was still proud of me, right? He barely ever spoke. I wondered how he had been doing with the _Princess Andromeda_. And he had the older spirits of the ocean to battle. That had to be time-consuming. I certainly would never have battled Nereus, Santa's evil twin, even for the answer to the meaning of life.

Then I decided. It had to be one of the stupidest, craziest ideas I had had in my entire life. And heck, I'd had a lot of them.

I called Tyson.

"PERCY!" Tyson still hadn't learnt to keep his voice down when he saw me. I suppose they don't teach you that at underwater forges. "HOW ARE YOU?"

"Fine thanks." I grimaced. "How are you?"

"I'M MAKING EVEN MORE SWORDS NOW!" Tyson's grin split his face. "BOSS SAYS I CAN COME TO VISIT YOU ANY TIME I LIKE!"

"That's – great."

Tyson's expression became oddly sympathetic, which does not look good on a Cyclops.

"Percy," he said solemnly, "is there something wrong?"

I would have replied angrily that was a dumb question. But this was Tyson, and I could keep a lid on it with him.

"Mom and Blowfish are getting married and having a baby together."

"YOUR MOM'S MARRYING A FISHY?" Tyson yelped.

I smiled. "Not quite, big guy. It just feels so sudden though."

"WHEN IS THE WEDDING?"

"No idea. I left before I asked them that."

Tyson looked very serious, another bad look to try out on a Cyclops. Come to think of it, not many expressions look good on a Cyclops.

"That was a bad thing to do."

"I know it was," I said angrily. "But it's all too soon."

Tyson pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"Why don't you talk with your mom?"

"I can't face it."

Tyson shrugged.

"You'll have to do it some time."

"Tyson, I-"

It was too late. Tyson had already hung up on me. I thought about his last words for a few minutes. _You'll have to do it some time._ Should I or shouldn't I?

I was on the brink of deciding when I heard several screams from outside. I burst out of the Poseidon cabin and saw something pretty strange.

The entire population of the Athena cabin was climbing up onto their roof fearfully, looking over their shoulders every other second. Annabeth was frozen in the middle of the space surrounded by cabins, paralysed in fright.

Spiders.

And not the teeny-weeny creepy-crawly ones either. Humungous ones, from those the size of dinner plates to giant spiders the size of Thalia's pine tree.

I acted impulsively. I couldn't let Annabeth just stand there in terror – she was petrified of spiders. I scooped her off the ground and handed her up to her brothers and sisters, who were sitting, quaking, on the Athena cabin roof. She was still too scared to thank me.

I uncapped Riptide, and waved it, unsure, at the advancing spiders. They did not seem to be approaching with the intent to destroy – it was almost as if they came in peace.

"Percy," Chiron's gentle voice came from behind me, "you won't be needing that."

Still doubtful, I lowered Riptide and backed away into the crowd of campers that had gathered behind me. Chiron cantered up to the halted army of spiders. I was expecting them to strike as quickly as possible. They didn't.

"We come in peace," a soft, yet with faint scratches, female voice intoned from the back. "You may lower your weapons."

I gasped.

The queen of these spiders advanced over her troops. She was as tall as Thalia's pine tree and even wider because of her legs. A torso, two arms and a head sprouted out from the spider's back. Her face was breathtaking – the face of a fifteen-year-old girl.

"My name is Arachne," she bowed humbly, "and I bring you an enemy."

She let her lieutenant, another spider, bring forth a tall youth who was around twenty years old. His sandy hair had grown unkempt and a beard was beginning to emerge. A huge scar spread down his face.

Luke.


	6. Chapter 6: The Oracle has Hissy Fits

CHAPTER 6 – THE ORACLE HAS HISSY FITS

I wasn't entirely sure whether I wanted to simply kill Luke or take the Clarisse-approach and blow him to smithereens, then vacuum the ashes up and finally burning the bag.

But that wasn't going to get me in anybody's good books.

"Luke," Chiron said quietly, "you had better come with me. And you too, Lady Arachne." I knew that he knew that this situation was going to implode sooner or later, and wanted to avoid any GBH caused by any of the campers who had lost people to Luke.

As the spider queen passed by the Athena cabin, accompanied by Chiron and Luke, she narrowed her eyes at Athena's children, along with the fierce hissing sound that her fellow spiders were making.

"Your spiders may live in the woods, my lady," Chiron said courteously. "I'm afraid that the Wise One's children are a bit too squeamish about them."

_A bit too squeamish. _Annabeth was looking like she could paint the entire inside of the Athena cabin with projectile vomit. I grimaced. Best not to stay on that subject too long.

The spiders retreated, but it was not before the last arachnid disappeared into the woods that the Athena campers finally felt safe in coming down. Annabeth was frozen up on the roof. Slightly hesitantly, I climbed up there to join her.

There was one of those long drawn-out silences between us that you always see on one of those soap programmes (I don't watch them!) on the roof. It took ages for either of us to muster the courage to speak. It was finally Annabeth who spoke up:

"Thanks."

I looked at her solemnly, before returning to staring at the floor.

"Don't mention it."

"I panicked," Annabeth confessed. "I thought those spiders were going to kill me – I couldn't move. I – I probably looked so stupid…"

"Look, I said don't mention it!" I couldn't tell whether anger had found its way into my voice or not. Either way, Annabeth still looked pretty defeated.

"Percy," she whispered. I tensed. This was the first time she had actually addressed me by name since our bust-up. "Look – I'm sorry. I'm just really sorry."

"No," I murmured, "I was being a jerk earlier on. I guess I got a bit protective of my mom – I didn't want Gabe happening to her all over again. She doesn't deserve that."

"He did help her in one way though," Annabeth mentioned. "Apart from the stink he kicked up to protect you. That statue made your mom a fortune when she sold it. She's much happier now."

"I know." I tensed again. "Friends?"

"Friends."

We shook hands instinctively. But then, again instinctively, I kept on holding her hand. It was warm and tender – like nothing else I'd ever felt before. And the odd thing was that she didn't want to let go either.

It felt like a movie – sitting on top of a roof, holding hands, watching the sunset. It was like one of those films shown on bank holidays – the slushy romantic ones my mom loves.

Annabeth leaned over, as did I, our faces drawing closer to each other. Our lips were poised, ready to taste the contents of the last meal the other one had had –

"Hey guys!" either Travis or Connor Stoll shouted from below. "Hope we're not interrupting anything here!"

Annabeth and I pulled away from each other quickly. Our hands automatically let go of each other – it was like we had just been randomly sitting on the same rooftop. The Stoll brothers' heads were poking over the top, their grins identical.

"Looks like we were. Chiron's called a head-of-cabin meeting. It sounds important. Something about Luke."

"Although," the other brother said, "I don't see what could be more important than this. I think we just found the headline story."

"What?" I said pretty bluntly.

"_Percy and Annabeth, sitting in a tree_-" Travis and Connor trilled.

"We're sitting on top of a cabin, idiots." Annabeth tossed back her hair. "How dumb can you get?"

"_Cabin _doesn't have the same ring to it."

"Forget I ever mentioned it, okay?"

"C'mon!" I growled.

As we walked up to the Big House, I felt something behind me, something staring into my back like a razor-sharp knife.

I turned around. Nobody.

We continued. There was still that 'watched' feeling. Again, I turned around. There was still nobody behind me. By now Annabeth had noticed that I kept turning around every couple of paces.

"Seaweed Brain, what is it?"

I didn't even have to listen to her tone to tell that she was annoyed.

"Something's behind us. Something big."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and tossed her hair again.

"Percy, you're a big boy now. You can take care of yourself, can't you?"

"Of course I can but-"

_Perseus Jackson,_ a disembodied female voice (the kind you hear chanting 'Ground Floor' on elevators) whispered. That was freaky. I turned around, even though the voice was in my head and not behind me.

The Oracle was striding towards me in that ethereal kind of walk she had. Her arm was outstretched, and pointing right at me.

_Hear my words to thee, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, the Earth-Shaker, and ponder them. I do not have much time…_

By now Annabeth and the Stoll brothers had noticed the woman in the summer dress striding towards us, almost gliding.

_Find he who since Protogenos fell_

_Has slumbered somewhere we cannot tell_

_Call on the three who have quested so long_

_Hunter, strife and spider too will come along_

_Along enemy sworn you shall fight_

_One shall fall at serpent's bite_

_But woe indescribable you shall take_

_For one must fall for a friend's sake_

_You, Perseus Jackson, _the oracle croaked, _heed my words, and above all, do not trust the-_

The Oracle shrieked hoarsely and began to disintegrate, crumbling into dust, which was blown away by the wind. Soon all that was left of the mighty Delphic oracle was an old summer dress and a writhing form within them.

I approached the bundle, unsure of what I had just seen. I stuck my hand into the rags that lay on the ground, and pulled out the twisting creature inside. It was a snake – it had lost its colour over time and was now just a grey, wrinkled – thing. There was no other way to describe it.

"That's the Oracle?" Annabeth said in disgust. "A snake?"

I nodded. They always said that Apollo spoke through the Oracle – I'd met Apollo and I'd never seen the Oracle spouting haikus or whatever Apollo's latest poetic craze was. And it was just a little snake.

"We need to take this to Chiron," I decided finally. "He'll know what to do."


	7. Chapter 7: I Think That I am Dreaming

CHAPTER 7 – I THINK THAT I AM DREAMING

"All present?" Chiron croaked, marking off a register on a clipboard. Everybody nodded. Well – everybody who was here. "Good."

I studied who was here. Thalia for the Zeus cabin, me for Poseidon, Georgia Egalite from Demeter, Clarisse from Ares, Annabeth from Athena, Lucas Mantova from Apollo, and Phoebe Stoll-basher instead of Artemis' campers. Charles Beckendorf from Hephaestus, Silena Beauregard from Aphrodite, Winnie Vincent from Dionysus (Mr D's daughter – complete with nose turning a nasty shade of puce) and the Stoll brothers from Hermes (nobody could decide which so they were joint heads of cabin)

"Pretty much," Travis and Connor chorused.

"Well," Chiron leant forward. "I should let you know, young demigods, that war is coming. And very soon it will be coming to Camp Half-Blood. Our old enemy Luke tells us that Lord Kronos' army will be attacking Camp Half-Blood soon, and at lightning speed."

"Hold on." I really could not help myself. "Our old enemy Luke?"

Chiron sighed – I read his face like a book. _Trust you to take the nit-picky route, Percy._ He sighed. He sighed too much nowadays.

"Luke is now our ally."

The rest of the heads of cabin couldn't believe it either. Only Thalia and Annabeth looked remotely believing. Lucas Mantova from the Apollo cabin spat out a mouthful of pistachio shells. "Hang on," he said. "Haiku!"

_Luke is now our friend_

_Anyone know what happened?_

_Chiron's gone insane_

"No, I am not insane, Lucas," Chiron sighed. "I am a tad eccentric, but never insane. Luke has pledged allegiance to us full-heartedly, on the River Styx."

"You know," Mr D interrupted. "I was thinking – the Styx is a river, right? Well, there isn't an awful amount that's necessary to her, is there?"

Thunder rumbled overhead.

"Mr D, with the greatest respect, could you please shut up?" Chiron snapped. That was something. I had never seen Chiron get particularly angry before. Mr D returned to his Wine Connoisseur magazine. This was déjà vu.

"Oho!" Lucas shouted.

_Chiron said shut up-_

"SHUT UP!" chorused the other campers.

"As I was saying," Chiron said, eyeing Dionysus' magazine thirstily, "Luke has given us important information on Lord Kronos' plans. Lady Arachne found him wandering the woods, deranged and half-mad. It is a wonder he did not die out there."

I remembered my dream of him and shuddered.

"As you may know, powers even older than the Titans have been getting involved in the coming war. Lord Poseidon has been having trouble with the older spirits of his realm of the sea. Lord Hades is struggling to keep a lid on Tartaros.

"Older spirits are awakening slowly, and the information Luke has supplied us with is that Lord Kronos intends to seek out these elder spirits and persuade them over to his side of the war."

"How old are these spirit things?" Charles Beckendorf asked gruffly, twirling his mighty axe in his hands.

"Some of them are as old as the universe," Chiron explained. "I do not expect any campers to try and take on these powerful forces, because there would probably a fate worse than death in store. I'm looking for volunteers who are willing to go on diplomatic missions to these elder spirits, and try to coax them over to our side."

"And what if they are already on Kronos' side?" Thalia snapped.

"Then _do not try to fight them_," he said. "They will crush you like ten thousand steel garbage compactors can crush you, and even then keep you alive to suffer an even worse fate."

I shuddered. It sounded like the New York Giants team to me. But they weren't as old as the universe. They wouldn't be playing good baseball otherwise.

_Aeons-old big gods_

_Kill like garbage compactors_

_And keep you alive_

"Well summed up, Lucas," Chiron sighed. "See you at the campfire tonight."

----------------------------------------------------------

The campfire of Camp Half-Blood was like nothing else. It had been made to shine and flame brighter and better than any other year it had before. I wondered whether this would be our last campfire, and they were trying to make it go with a bang this year.

"Attention campers!" Mr D bellowed. "We have guests among us tonight."

No kidding. The entire Athena cabin was crouching behind everybody else because of the spiders on the opposite side giving them arachnid evils.

"Some of you," he sniggered at the Athena cabin, "have already noticed the presence of Lady Arachne and her Spider Brethren. And do not worry, they are under oath not to harm you."

One of the spider lieutenants hissed menacingly. Most of the Athena cabin, apart from Annabeth and some of the older ones, ran for the hills, screaming. Lady Arachne sighed, and resumed varnishing her fingernails next to Chiron. The centaur looked pretty trifled at a mutant human-spider trivially applying nail varnish.

"Also with us is Lady Eris," Mr D shouted over the dying screams of the Athena cabin. "Many of you will know her from mythology as the goddess of strife and cause of the Trojan War." Eris gave him the strife-goddess-evils, which were _really _not pretty. "She recently escaped capture from the Sheut demons, thanks to Peter Johnson and Annabel Chafe and friends. And no, campers, I did not swear."

The little kids, some of whom looked barely out of kindergarten, were practically hyperventilating with laughter. Annabeth was still transfixed at Lady Arachne's presence.

"And go on, have your stupid little campfire."

A resounding cheer rose, and Apollo cabin burst into haikus and limericks appropriately, and everybody covered their ears accordingly.

_There was a centaur from Britain_

_With Artemis he was smitten_

_He took one peep_

_She turned him to sheep_

_And now wears him as a mitten_

"Ow," I moaned, ears throbbing. "My ears."

I felt a small wriggling sensation in my pocket. Fumbling around, I brought out the husk of the snake. I slapped my forehead – I had entirely forgotten about the oracle during the meeting.

It looked balefully up into my eyes. Now – you see – I have never liked snakes (especially after the incident at the Reptile House when I was three) but now I could feel nothing but sorry for the little creature writhing about in my hands.

I approached Chiron, the dead snake still struggling to live in my arms.

"Chiron?"

"Mmm… Percy?"

Great. He was listening to Frank Sinatra _a la iPod_ again. I tried to ignore the crooning heights of _My Way _to speak to him.

"Chiron – the Oracle's dead."

The headphones disconnected without him having to move. He seemed to have frozen in my chair. After several seconds, I thought Medusa had got to him – but then I remembered that campers would be screaming their faces off by now.

"When did this happen?"

"Earlier this evening. I would have come earlier, but I forgot about it."

Chiron shuddered.

"The times are a-changing Percy," he murmured. He was either quoting Bob Dylan or being deadly serious (I suspected the latter) "Come to the woods. We can talk there, away from the campfire."

I nodded. He rose from his chair, and lead into the woods. As we slipped between the trees, I remembered happy days of Capture the Flag and other sports. Laughter seemed to ripple through the mist descending for the night.

"The Oracle has been around for thousands upon thousands of years, Percy," Chiron sighed. "It is an incredibly long-lived creature, needing a new host after the previous one's death. They say that the first Oracle spoke the words of Apollo for one thousand years – not his haikus, but his prophecies."

"So Apollo knows what is in store for me?"

"Alas, no. The cords of Fate and Destiny are not in the hands of the Olympian Twelve. It is the charge of the Fates to structure the universe and decide destinies. They have been here from the beginning of time, much like the beings I described earlier in the heads-of-cabin meeting."

Well – those three old ladies spinning yarn when my half-blood adventures began weren't exactly in their prime.

"Zeus, highest of the Olympians, can control the cords of Fate, but even he cannot defy Ananke, the Strong Fate. She was the wife of one of the Elder Four. As with the Four, she lies imprisoned in celestial realms, which even immortal lips cannot disclose.

"She ordained that whenever an Oracle died, a great catastrophe should happen to mark its passing. Sometimes it was a natural disaster, such as an earthquake or a volcano. Sometimes it was a human disaster, such as a war or genocide."

"So now that the Oracle's kicked the bucket, does that mean something bad will happen?"

"You are full of questions, Perseus Jackson. Thankfully, they are all the right ones. Yes – something major will happen. Of course, it could be something so major that the effects would not be felt at all.

"But with Kronos gaining power so rapidly, I fear that the effects of Ananke's Curse will certainly be felt. Word for word. In both immortal and mortal realms."

I shuddered, just as I had shivered in the presence of Athena. A war? But mortals couldn't feel celestial bronze weapons.

"And the Oracle prophesied something. I – I think it was a quest."

"Do you remember its words?"

_Find he who since Protogenos fell_

_Has slumbered somewhere we cannot tell_

_Call on the three who have quested so long_

_Hunter, strife and spider too will come along_

_Along enemy sworn you shall fight_

_One shall fall at serpent's bite_

_But woe indescribable you shall take_

_For one must fall for a friend's sake_

That hadn't been me. I had no chance to open my mouth before the words spoke themselves. I turned around to see Lady Arachne and Eris standing in the clearing behind us. Eris was leaning against a tree, picking at her nails, as she had been when I first met her.

"You were not the only pair of ears to hear that prophecy, Perseus Jackson," Eris almost purred. "And I can't say that I'll be glad to go along with you."

"Wait?" I spluttered. "Who says you're going anywhere?"

I had this instinctive habit of making enemies of nearly every god I meet. Zeus, Ares, Hades, Athena and now Eris.

"The prophecy does. _Hunter, strife and spider too will come along_." She rolled her eyes. "Now, if _strife _doesn't refer to the goddess of strife, whom could it refer to?"

You had to admit it – she was pretty damn good.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, guys! Whew! That sure took a long time in uploading. Can I be a real pain and beg for reviews? I really want both positive and constructive-criticism feedback! Oh, and I thought of starting this little feature:**

**NEXT TIME ON THE CHAOS CODE:**

_**Find he who since Protogenos fell**_

_**Has slumbered somewhere we cannot tell**_

_**Call on the three who have quested so long**_

_**Hunter, strife and spider too will come along**_

_**Along enemy sworn you shall fight**_

_**One shall fall at serpent's bite**_

_**But woe indescribable you shall take**_

_**For one must fall for a friend's sake**_

**What? When? Where? Why? How? And most importantly, WHO?**

**FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON…THE CHAOS CODE!**

**Tell me if that was cheesy or not.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Oracle has senior moments

CHAPTER 8 – THE ORACLE MUST HAVE BEEN HAVING A 'SENIOR MOMENT'

_Find he who since Protogenos fell_

_Has slumbered somewhere we cannot tell_

_Call on the three who have quested so long_

_Hunter, strife and spider too will come along_

_Along enemy sworn you shall fight_

_One shall fall at serpent's bite_

_But woe indescribable you shall take_

_For one must fall for a friend's sake_

"So, not one of your more 'light-hearted' prophecies, eh Chiron?" Mr D cracked a smile for probably the first time in years.

We (that being me, Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, the other heads of cabins, Eris and Arachne) were sitting down around the pinochle table in the Big House. Mr D was once again engrossed in his Wine Connoisseur magazine, searching eagerly for any new clues as to Pinot Noir's comeback.

"Mr D," Chiron said heavily, "I take no pleasure in telling somebody to shut up twice in one evening, but could you please do so?"

Mr D said nothing, only slumping further into Wines 4 U magazine. How many of them did he have?

"So," Chiron sighed, "the last prophecy that this Oracle ever gave. And probably one of the most dangerous to date. I assume you all know what usually follows an Oracle's death?"

Nods all around.

"Good. And now – before we come to the first line – who shall go on this quest? Surely nobody would dare to go on such a perilous quest where death seems to go hand in hand with it.

"Yet there is no need to ask for volunteers. The Oracle specifically outlines seven people to go on this quest. Lady Eris, as goddess of strife, seems fitting to go along. The three who have quested so long – Percy, Annabeth and Grover." Great. Another quest to potentially lose my life on. "And spider –"

"That refers to me, Chiron," Arachne said curtly. She flexed one of her enormous legs – Annabeth almost fainted with terror – and leant over the table.

"Very good, very good," Chiron hummed. "Hunter – since only two hunters seem to remain at this camp, one of whom is still covered in hives…"

Travis and Connor tittered and gave each other a high-five.

"I'll go, Chiron," Thalia said promptly. "If Seaweed Brain, Wise Girl and Hoofy are going, I'm going too."

Chiron gazed at her with glazed eyes for several seconds. Yet again, I could read his face. He was looking at her – almost beseeching her not to go. Yet Thalia gazed back at him, her face firm and resolved.

"Then that is decided. The third and fourth lines of the poem are answered. However, I am concerned as to the answer of the fifth line of the poem."

_Along enemy sworn you shall fight._ I had severely overlooked that line. An enemy fighting on our side?

"The answer is obviously, but painfully obvious as well. The person who I assume the Oracle is referring to is Luke."

A heavy silence lay thick as butter in the air. I struggled for the words to express myself with, but all that I could force out was:

"Whhgaarghkk?"

"Percy," Chiron sighed, "the English language is a beautiful thing, so please do not continually abuse it like that."

"Luke?" I croaked.

"Yes, Luke," he replied. "Over the past day, Luke has fed us enough information about the current movements of Kronos and his army to gain our trust again, as well as our respect."

"What exactly has he told you?" Thalia spoke out. I could see her narrowing her eyes behind her helmet.

"He has told us about some of Kronos' plans, including the plan to find the Elder Four and use them for his own benefit. This is absolutely critical in the quest that Percy has been given to directly by the Oracle."

"How?" Travis, or possibly Connor, piped up.

"Refer to the first line of the prophecy – _find he who since Protogenos fell_ – and you will find the answer. Do any of you know what Protogenos is?"

Mr D coughed strangely. When stared at, he buried himself into Drinks R Us again. Everybody shook his or her heads.

"Protogenos is the Greek term for '_first-born_' It refers to the first gods to walk the world, the ancestors of the Titans. The younger of these gods were Mother Earth, and Uranus, Father Sky. Lady Eris is one of the last members of Protogenos who remains free."

No wonder I kept thinking there was something about her that whispered to me: _anti-ageing cream._

"The Elder Four are the four eldest progeny of Protogenos. To refer to them by their Greek names: Tartaros, Hydros, Khronos and Khaos."

"Kronos?" was the general murmuring seeping through the crowd of people stuffed into the Big House. Chiron shook his head, smiling wryly.

"No. There is much confusion between the Titan Lord Kronos and the Protogenos Lord Khronos. The one whom we presently fight represents the destructive element of time – a power that we soon might find resurfacing.

"But to the refer to them by the English names they were given: Hell, Water, Time and Chaos. Now look at the second line – _Has slumbered somewhere we cannot tell_. The Protogenos Lord of Hell is currently imprisoned beneath Kronos, powering Tartarus. If he slumbered, then Tartarus would be virtually lifeless, and the Fields of Punishment deserted.

"Hydros the Lord of Water, is also awake. If he was asleep, no water would exist and Poseidon would be unemployed. Even the saliva in your mouth would not be there. So, technically, we would all know if Hydros did no exist, partly because we would all be dead. He is one of the older sea gods that Lord Poseidon is trying to appease at the moment. However, Kronos has not enlisted him just yet. Hydros acts of his own accord, and it would certainly take an enormous amount of persuasion for him to join any side in the upcoming war.

"Khronos the Lord of Time is most certainly awake. If he dared to take even a minute's rest, all of time would be frozen. He would be frozen as well, so he would also be unable to amend any damage caused. I do not think that Kronos would need to contact Khronos – Kronos has power over destructive time anyway, which he much prefers. So there would be no need."

"So that leaves us with Chaos?" Annabeth deduced.

"Yes. And the Titan Lord would have ample reason to contact Lord Chaos. They say that he can represent both the order and structure of the universe, as well as the chaos and the paradox of it as well."

"How can he do that?" I wondered aloud.

"Talk about god of oxymorons," Annabeth muttered.

"Nobody has ever met to ask him. He is simply a man of mystery. And we know for a fact that he is asleep _somewhere we cannot tell_. If he were awake, Western civilisation would be a huge melting pot on which we would be standing on the rim."

"So do we actually know where he could be '_slumbering_'?"

"No. The Oracle would at least give a clue. In ancient laws, every place has a name, every place is plotted and every place can be spoken. The Fates have knowledge of everywhere, everyone, every time and everything. The only thing they do not have knowledge of is the unknown."

"Well, that makes sense," I pointed out.

"Think, all of you. Do any of you know of a place where nobody knows what can be expected, where every turn or move is turning a corner into oblivion?"

"The Hermes cabin?" somebody suggested.

"I think Travis and Connor would know if an aeons-old primordial force was sleeping rough under their beds, thank you Lucas."

"A maze!" Annabeth cried out.

"Exactly." Chiron's eyes twinkled in the lamplight. "Or, to be even more precise, a labyrinth."

**A/N: Okay, friends, Romans, countrymen (and women), lend me your reviews. As before, both praise and constructive criticism is welcome. Oh, and sorry for the slightly short chapter.**

**NEXT TIME…in the Chaos Code…**

**CHAPTER 9: We Screw Up Already**

**Percy, Luke, Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, Eris and Arachne set out on the quest. Already fissures are erupting between Percy and Luke, with the rest of them trying to keep them from ripping each other's heads off.**

**Oh, and Kronos' regained powers say hi…**


	9. Chapter 9: Mr D's Girlfriend

CHAPTER 9 – WE GET GEOGRAPHY LESSONS FROM A LEGGY ENGLISHWOMAN

I lay in my solitary bunk in the Poseidon cabin, staring up at the ceiling.

I always thought that the ceiling was beautiful. Painted as the coral crystalline depths of the sea, with light breaking upon the surface, it felt like the entire room was drifting about underwater.

And for a kid like me with ADHD, I guess it's a calming influence too.

_A labyrinth._

Now where in America could we find a labyrinth?

A shopping centre? It was a labyrinth for me every time we lunged into our nearby shopping complex for a reduced-price back-to-school frenzy. Although I really could not imagine a destructive pre-Titan immortal force snoring away beneath Starbucks.

A big city – one of the largest in America. That would mean New York. Chiron had mentioned afterwards that a labyrinth is a place where the unexpected leaps out at you, practically yelling and screaming. And I was – fairly – streetwise with New York. Nothing could be unexpected there.

I slipped on some clothes, and staggered outside.

Moonlight spilled over Camp Half-Blood like unicorn blood, over the mess pavilion, the archery grounds, the lake, adding a metallic glow to them. Even to the lava-dripping climbing walls looked less threatening.

I wandered over to the shoreline, as ripples of silver spread throughout the calm sea. My brain seemed to be balanced and in some kind of equilibrium (there I go, using fancy words I've only heard of and never bothered looking up)

My dyslexia didn't affect me reading the sea like a book. It seemed troubled and disturbed. I had heard that my dad was battling the older spirits of the sea – perhaps he was still doing so now.

I heard something click and snap behind me. I wheeled around and shrieked to find a pair of grey eyes level with mine. With a playful push from my disturber, I found myself falling backwards off the miniature pier that Beckendorf had built last summer.

I resurfaced, finding myself completely drenched in saltwater. My dad's protection from water must have been wearing off for me to be this soaked. I squinted upwards through eyefuls of salts to see Annabeth looking down at me, sniggering at my situation.

Now that made me mad.

I grabbed her ankle and dragged it down with me into the deepening water.

"Perseus Jackson, you – Muppet!" she shrieked, landing on top of me.

Hey, I used to watch that show when I was little – so don't disrespect the Muppets, Wise Girl.

"That was for pushing me in the water," I crowed triumphantly.

She pursed her lips and spat out a large mouthful of seaweed.

"And that was for pulling me in the water!" she snapped, pulling herself out again. I didn't bother – the water was my home climate.

An uneasy silence lay between us. That kind of awkward, tense silences that couples have together…

"So," she said glumly, "did you have _any_ luck on guessing where that labyrinth was?"

"None. You?"

She shook her head, frustrated by her slight narrow-mindedness.

I splashed around for a while before hauling myself up on the edge of the dock beside Annabeth. For the second time that day, my hand – well – crept into hers. And for the second time that day, she did not pull away from it.

"I love you, Annabeth Chase," I murmured, drawing close to her lips. For once in my life, there was a great feeling bubbling up and churning around in my stomach. I was not entirely sure on what this feeling was called, but I suspect that it was something like love.

"I love you too, Seaweed Brain…" she murmured. Was that same cosy, great feeling bubbling around in her stomach too? They could be one together - two stomachs together. Ew.Gross.

Just as our lips were about to touch, I felt Annabeth's disappear, and her feet running away from me. I made a very hapless sound, like an injured animal. And all I heard was her cry dying away:

"I can't, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

She was sorry, I was clueless.

----------------------------------------------------

Mr D was unusually excited throughout the next day, from when dawn broke.

I could hear him murmuring happily as he strode about everywhere as we packed our belongings for our new quest. He was wringing his hands with pleasure. The satyrs were ecstatic – he had been so happy that he had forgotten to beat them at pinochle. The campers looked a lot less strained as he left his routine inspection of each activity – he had been too cheerful to criticise their clumsy archery or shoddy canoeing.

"What's up with Mr D?" I whispered to Grover at the mess pavilions at midday.

"Dunno," Grover murmured as he stuffed his face with enchiladas and espressos, "but he was murmuring something like: _she's coming, she's coming…_"

"Mr D has a girlfriend?" I whistled. "Isn't that humanly impossible?"

"Mr D's immortal, not human," Thalia snorted, rolling her eyes. "And where's Annabeth this morning, anyway?"

I felt my face colour itself in with a noticeable shade of crimson. I hadn't seen Annabeth at all since last night. I wondered whether or not to tell Grover or Thalia about last night. _Nah._

"Percy, you're going red…" Thalia sniggered.

"OH MY GODS PERCY, YOU'RE NOT SERIOUSLY…" Grover bellowed unintentionally loudly.

"Shut up, Hoovesy," I snapped. I thought about using that for future reference.

"But…" Grover whispered excitedly, "…you and Annabeth. You were so dead-set on saving her last year. And you danced with her…"

"Grover, I danced with you at the Winter Solstice," Thalia grizzled. "Don't get any ideas."

"But…are you and Annabeth…an item?"

I thought about saying, "_well durr_!" but then I remembered last night's romantic disaster. Instead I left it to Thalia to say:

"Well, durr!"

Grover beamed, and I simply sighed.

"I don't think so. She keeps pulling away – like she doesn't want to commit herself…I don't know if you guys knew anything…" I looked helplessly up to them for answers.

"Nope," Grover said, after Thalia nudged him sharply.

I've been a very good guesser for quite a while. I could tell what Thalia meant by that nudge, how she nudged it – hold on, that sentence went wrong somewhere…

"It's him, isn't it?" I said meekly.

They looked at each other, exchanged glances, before returning eye contact back to me. In severe doubt of themselves, they nodded.

I let my head drop and bang itself hard against the table, upsetting several nearby plates and horns.

"Luke."

-------------------------------------------------

Every camper was surprised at the new arrival to Camp Half-Blood. As we were just about to cross the boundary line near Thalia's Tree, our jaws dropped at the new sight.

A sleek black limousine had pulled up in the road outside. Argus humbly emerged from the front, dressed in an expensive chauffeur's suit. He hurried around to our side of the car, and opened the door for his passenger to get out.

A slim tanned leg in a red stiletto appeared, protruding from the door. It was followed by a tall woman in a shimmering scarlet prom dress, dark hair streaming down her back. She deftly removed her sunglasses between her immaculate fingernails, and gave a prim-and-proper little cough into a handkerchief.

"So," she said, showing off a clear English accent, "this is the place where my husband works his wine-sodden back off for a century."

She strutted up to me, and extended her hand, which was covered in countless rings and bracelets.

"Lady Ariadne," she breathed. "Charmed to meet you."

"Ari!" a hearty, jovial voice burst out from behind the mob of campers gawping at the touch of class brought to their Long Island camp. "Ariadne, my dear!"

"That's Mr D?" Thalia gasped.

I wheeled around to see Mr D striding up the hill, parting the campers like the Book of Exodus all over again. He had oiled his hair back, discarding his leopard-skin shirt for a smart, freshly pressed tuxedo. He swiped his sunglasses from his face just as Ariadne had done so moments before.

Mr D then seized Ariadne and plastered her, much to everybody else's disgust, with the sloppiest number of kisses.

---------------------------------------------

"Tell me, sweet," Lady Ariadne purred in her English tongue, stroking Mr D's beard in a feline way, "you must be so worn out and achy from your sojourn here at this summer camp. Let me relax you."

"Ah, yes," Mr D grunted. "That's lovely…"

"Excuse me, Mr D…"

Chiron, Eris, Arachne, me and everybody else in the room scowled at the lovemaking scene set before us like a dinner platter.

"You are forgetting the purpose of Lady Ariadne's visit," Chiron noted.

"To visit my darling husband, trapped for a century at a day care facility," Ariadne purred.

"Yes, yes, apart from that," Chiron intoned hastily. "Lady Ariadne, I must ask you about the labyrinth of your father, King Minos."

Ariadne's eyes snapped open rapidly. Her eyebrows elevated several centimetres.

"Such matters pain me." she snapped, her fingers still running themselves through Mr D's tangled hair.

"We could have a word with Lord Zeus as to stretching out your visit should you answer our questions," Chiron suggested.

Ariadne suddenly looked interested. _Easy bait,_ I thought to myself.

"What is it you wish to ask me?"

"Where is the labyrinth of your father, that Daedalus himself built those years ago?"

"That is impossible to tell," Ariadne said quickly. "With every other place in mythology, the site of the famous Cretan labyrinth moves around the known world every time the beacon of civilisation changes nation."

"So the labyrinth is somewhere in America?" I suggested innocently.

She fixed me with a cold piercing stare.

"You are unwise to suggest that. The labyrinth was originally built on Crete, the small island always seeming to be second best to the Greek civilisation, despite being its origin. Patterns such as that remain throughout history.

"Think, young half-blood. If Greek civilisation is America at the moment, then where can you think of in the world that is second best to America and that is a small island?"

And then, the metaphorical rock hit me on the head and reminded me that I was incredibly stupid at times.

"So you're saying…"

"That's right," Ariadne read my thoughts before I even put them into words. "The great labyrinth of Daedalus is at present in the United Kingdom."

**A/N: So, was that a twist and a half or was that a twist and a half? The whole labyrinth-is-in-the-UK thing is a bit self-serving. I know Britain better than I know America, so I thought I'd move the action across the pond a bit.**

**And I'm sorry. This new idea came into my head quite randomly, and I forgot to put in the 'Luke vs. Percy tearing each other's heads off' thing because I was preoccupied with this.**

**Anyways… **_**Once more unto the breach my friends, and clog up with your reviews! **_**Do you think I should stop doing Mickey-takes of Shakespeare quotes?**

**NEXT TIME… on The Chaos Code**

**Chapter 10 – We Screw Up Already**

**HEADS WILL ROLL! Percy and Luke are about to tear each other's heads off. Nothing new there, but this time Annabeth's in the middle of it all.**

**SNAKES ON A PLANE! You'll never look at transatlantic aeroplanes the same way again! Does all it says on the label, and more!**

**MONSTERS! BUST-UPS! LOVE! JEALOUSY! BRITISH AIRWAYS! All next time on… THE CHAOS CODE!**


	10. Chapter 10: I Fall To Inevitable Death

CHAPTER 10 – I TAKE QUITE A BAD FALL TO MY INEVITABLE DEATH

Argus pulled into the airport car park, almost compacting the car behind us into trash metal in the process.

"You kids'll be okay from here, s'pose?" he grunted.

"Sure," Thalia brightened up. "We can handle an airport, can't we? Dad _did_ promise not to blast us out of the sky on our journey."

I hoped he did. I, for one, did not fancy at all becoming a Sunday roast plummeting to Earth. The clouds in the sky looked dark, almost mutinous above us. I wondered whether Zeus had decided to swear that on the River Styx at all.

We got out of the car, unpacked our suitcases from the boot and let Argus speed off erratically. Hundred-eyed giants should never be let near whisky.

Annabeth was still distant and forlorn. She had not uttered a word throughout the day, as it was now getting into late afternoon. There was still hope of her opening he mouth though, whether it being a passionate declaration of love for me (I wish) or asking where terminal two was.

At the entrance to terminal two, Luke was waiting. A gap-toothed grin was spread across his face, and his scar from the dragon crackled with bitter laughter. Annabeth seemed somewhat happy to see him anyway, running into his waiting arms like a lost spaniel. Thalia followed, her hug a little more frozen and cold than Annabeth's.

Arachne was looking very uncomfortable. For reasons she could not understand, she had had her spider's legs forced into fake human legs, and by the look of it, they really did chafe.

Eris was just miserable, snuggled into a heavily padded waterproof coat as the rain began to lash down. She produced a hand-held mirror from her pocket and began to apply a slight dab of make-up.

Grover was chewing pensively on a tin can, a flask of strong coffee sticking out from his jacket's pocket, but he seemed not to care whether Luke was there or not.

I simply narrowed my eyes at the traitor who claimed to be on our side. How did everybody get themselves so convinced, literally overnight, that he was the next step down from a saint?

As we entered the airport, the silence between us grew even more so. Annabeth had let her head lean against Luke's bare muscular arm, exhausted for apparently no reason.

"So," Grover had to swig a large amount of coffee before daring to speak, "where's our flight?"

I looked up on the departures board hanging above us, before my dyslexia scrambled them all up and let the letters float away. My eyes settled upon one that looked just about right:

LDOONN THAETROW – 52:4 – TGAE 25 – LFGIHT B844A5

I knew instinctively that this probably translated as:

LONDON HEATHROW – 2:45 – GATE 25 – FLIGHT BA4845

Don't ask me how. You might as well as me how a realm of all-powerful immortal Greek gods co-exists alongside ours and yet barely anybody seems to notice.

And really, don't ask me that.

"So, gate 25," Luke started, feigning interest. "That'll be that way, wouldn't it?" He pointed down a noisy shopping mall, with an illuminated sign 'GATES 20-29' hanging over it.

"Hey," I said coolly, "I'm the leader of this pack, not you."

"Percy!" came an exasperated cry – it could have been either Thalia or Annabeth. They had seen this one coming, at least.

"Who says you're the leader of anything?" Luke replied equally as coolly.

"I do," I replied, face flushing, "and anybody who says otherwise gets their butt kicked! Alright?"

"You think you're so hard, Percy Jackson," Luke snapped, "when really you're just an insecure little kid with mental problems. I mean, every time you go out to fight you drench yourself in water so you don't get your arse kicked! You let Bianca di Angelo die just to save your skin from a giant made out of scrap! You can't even ask a girl out on a date! You hide behind other people when you should be fighting! You're just a pathetic wimp whose only _real_ talent is running away!"

"Well at least I didn't chuck in my friends for a cranky old megalomaniac (_alright, I admit that I decided to use that word because it sounded classy_) coffin and try to kill them!" I spat.

Luke backed off. I could sense Thalia and Annabeth staring at me, as if saying _I thought we agreed not to mention that_. Then I could sense that passers-by were staring at us too, quickly before quickening their pace.

"Geez, take a chill pill," I muttered to myself, before heading towards gate 25.

"Wrong way, Jackson," Luke called to me, sniggering behind my back. I was ready to punch him now, and regret it later. I swivelled around on one foot, and headed towards the gate.

----------------------------------------------------

"Okay," I whispered to Grover, "that man is starting to freak me out now."

"Why?" Grover said, stuffing his face with the in-flight meal. "It's just a businessman, suitcase and all."

"Yeah," I whispered, "but why's he hissing?"

Grover shrugged.

"Some people – like to hiss on an aeroplane?"

"It's just the engines, dumbass," Luke snorted from behind us. "They do that."

"Who asked you?" Yep. Me again.

"_Aw, is poor baby Percy fwightened of the big scarwy engines_?" Luke mocked me, looking concerned. "_Poor poppet._"

"Jerk," I muttered, staring somewhere else rather than his repulsive face.

"Ooh, I'm insulted." Luke then caught where I was gazing, and followed it to where Annabeth was sitting, gazing out of the window, silent. "You realise you don't have a chance with her."

"And you do?"

"More than you have!"

"I didn't go stabbing her in the back and over to evil, in case you hadn't noticed," I conceded lightly. "She actually danced with me!"

"Hold on, let me get this straight," Luke smirked, trying to stop himself from laughing. "So if I do the jitterbug with you, that automatically means I have to love you for eternity?"

"He has a point," Grover said mildly.

"Not you too, G-man!" I groaned, falling back in my seat.

"I'm just saying…"

"And he's right – for an enchilada-loving, caffeine-psyched satyr," Luke said. "And besides, I would have thought a girl like Annabeth has _standards_."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" The school counsellor was right. I was – am still – quite 'confrontational'

"Um, Percy." Grover was tapping me on the shoulder. "I think we've got company."

The hissing businessman had risen from his seat, setting his suitcase down in his place. The air stewardess tried to force him down again (it being unsafe to get out of our seats) but one look from his pale, gaunt face sent her running back to the tray.

The freaky snake-man turned his gaze on me, his snake-like eyes shooting daggers like something out of a Zhang Yimou martial arts film. He opened his shapeless mouth, and hissed:

"Perssseusss Jackson…"

"That'd be me," I said with false confidence, trying to remain somewhat sane. "Did you know that you've got a saliva problem?"

"It is not wisssse to anger the ssssservant of the Crooked One, Lord Kronosssss…"

"Look, when we need a shower, we'll call you," I ssssaid, beginning to crumble under Sssssnake-Man's gazzzzzze. Oops – force of habit.

"Why," the sinister snake-man snapped (how's that for 's' alliteration) "you sssstupid, impudent fool!"

He swung a long sword at me, which I barely just ducked in time as it ssswung (I must stop doing that!) over my head. Crouching behind the hostess' tray, I drew a sharp breath as the Snake-Man exploded, leaving a business suit on the floor, covered in dust.

"Wh-?" I gagged. "Where's Sissy the Snake gone?"

The answer was at my feet.

Thousands of snakes writhed around, chasing terrified passengers from one end of the aircraft to the other. Screams of fear echoed through my eardrums, as I dodged from seat to seat to escape the little devils.

"Perssseusss!" the snakes all screamed as one. "Thisss isss no time for gamesss!"

With a flurry of golden light, the snakes piled into the discarded businessman's suit, and the revived tycoon stood swiftly up again, brandishing the silver sword threateningly.

"Thisss isss no time for hide and ssseek!" he yelled, hacking at the seats in a serpentine frenzy. "Prepare to meet my sssilver sssword!"

Geez. I wasn't sure whether to scream and run away, or burst out laughing at the ludicrous (Annabeth taught me that one) amount of 's's in his ssspeech. I figured not laughing might keep me alive a bit longer.

"Hey!" I yelled, leaping on top of the trolley and waving my arms around like a human windmill. "Hey, you! Snakey guy!"

"It'sss Typhon to you, ignorant half-blood."

I swallowed. Ouch. Typhon? Now my butt was definitely going to get kicked.

"Aren't you meant to be under Etna right now?" I asked.

"It isss none of your busssinesss…" Typhon hissed, swinging his sword.

Instinctively I grabbed onto the end of the sword, cutting my hands badly on the blade, and yanked it from Typhon's hand. He looked slightly surprised, before the snakes returned to looking downright murderous.

With a huge swipe of his hand using a snake as a whip, I was knocked backwards, the trolley colliding and sending my flying through the window. I smashed headlong through.

Using my ADHD as my initiative, I grabbed onto the nearest thing. The ledge of the window, Typhon hissing with triumph.

Typhon cackled, snakes rearing up. I could hear somebody screaming – whether it was Annabeth, Thalia or some other passenger I could not tell.

The Snake Man slowly applied pressure to my gripping fingers. I tried to not let go, but eventually I gave in as pain shot up my arm and into my torso. I fell backwards, yelling and scrabbling at the air.

I tumbled through the atmosphere, to my inevitable death below.

**MY, MY... REVIEWS, REVIEWS, WHEREFORE ART THOU REVIEWS?**

**Please read and review! Means so much to me! I'm going away for Christmas, so I'll be a little slow on the writing front. But it is still being written and planned as we speak - or rather write.**

**NEXT TIME... on The Chaos Code...**

**Chapter 11: Fog, Rain and Other English Pests**

**Will Percy survive his fall? What will happen to Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, Luke, Eris and Arachne now that Typhon has captured them? But first of all, what will Percy make of the traditionally terrible English weather?**

**Find out next time on THE CHAOS CODE! **


	11. Chapter 11: I Ride Masterbolt Express

CHAPTER 11 – I RIDE THE MASTER BOLT EXPRESS

**A/N: Sorry for the nasty cliffy at the end of the last chapter. From now on I'll probably include scenes from a 3****rd**** person point of view, but not including Percy. And don't expect too much humour from now on – it's time for war, and everything will be that little bit darker. **

**Thanks for the reviews!**

It's strange, dying.

Trust me. Not only is it quite painful, with the occasional rapid flashback of my short, puny life, but equally the oddest of sensations.

Sure, I've had my fair share of odd sensations. Try poisonous pit scorpion bites, supporting the weight of the heavens on the shoulders, or maybe even falling out of an aeroplane window.

Whatever happened, it would all be over soon.

"Percy!" Annabeth shrieked from above, leaning hysterically out of the plane window. "Percy!"

"_Percccy, Percccy_!" Typhon cackled, mimicking Annabeth's screams cruelly. "Oh Annabel, your darling Perssseusss ssseemsss to have taken a ssslight fall!"

He strutted up and down the aisle of the plane, past passengers crouching in pure terror in their seats. Every so often, he let a snake loose to horrify another passenger. Children were crying, adults were moaning – a few were dead, poisoned by the excruciating bite of the serpents.

"You monster," Thalia whispered, trying to bite back tears. Instead, she only produced a bleeding lip.

"Look!" Typhon laughed, a thousand serpents hissing simultaneously. "Ten out of ten for observation to Pinecone Faccce back there!"

Thalia remembered how Percy had called her that, in the middle of a spat. Now that same hero was tumbling through the stratosphere.

"Don't call me that," she hissed through ground teeth.

"What'sss that, my pinecone-faccced little half-blood?" Typhon cackled.

"Don't call me that, Spitwad Face!"

Typhon turned on one heel to face Thalia, whose face was now flushed with anger at the monster's persistent name-calling.

"You know how to get yourssself killed, I'll give you that," he snarled, snapping his fingers.

Thalia felt an invisible hand grab her neck, then throw her down the aisle, before the upended trolley blocked her path. Typhon advanced on her, a thousand snakes' heads egging him on.

"Wait, Lord Typhon!" a voice called.

Typhon whirled around to see Arachne, who had steadily, and uncomfortably, risen to her feet – or rather her eight spider's legs packed tightly into a pair of fake legs.

"Lady Arachne," the monster seethed. "I wondered when I would lay eyesss on you… It hasss been too long, hasss it not?"

"Far too long, Lord Typhon," the spider-woman snapped, advancing. "And over time…allegiances have shifted."

"You cannot pretend that you ssside with the inevitable losers!" her opponent snarled. "Did you not see your ssso-called only-hope-and-sssaviour plummet to hisss death just a minute ago?"

"Percy isn't dead!" Thalia called out, nursing a head injury sustained from colliding with the food trolley. "He isn't. He can't be."

"Sssilly girl," Typhon snapped, disregarding her.

Thalia crouched, lips moving in silent prayer.

_Lord Zeus_, she whispered, _father, hear my prayer. Perseus Jackson – Percy – is the only one who can save all of us from the Titan Lord. At the moment he is about to die in your domain. Please help him – save him and protect him. If you have ever loved me, as I love him, please rescue him from death for me. He is the only one who can save us. Hear me father – take this._

Checking to make sure Typhon was not watching, she removed her bracelet from her wrist and hurled it headlong through the window. The same window through which her hero had tumbled minutes before.

_Accept this offering, father. I will not need it anymore. Only for the one I love._

And sure enough, a tiny bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, caught the bracelet and dissolved into a fine shower of ash and dust. Lord Zeus had heard her words, and now all that could be done was to wait.

-------------------------------------------------

Percy's point of view

Inevitable death seemed to be taking quite a while for me. We must have been travelling at a very high altitude for me to be falling this long.

I could slowly make out the ground below me. The countryside spread out below me was like a patchwork quilt of fields joined together by thin strips of hedgerows.

Thunder and lightning rumbled overhead. It was doing that a lot more now. Quite annoying, sure, but nice and dramatic. I wondered whether Zeus was thinking about doing something about my impending catastrophe (another long word – I'll outdo myself one day) or sitting down and watching with an XXXXXL bucket of popcorn.

As this thought came and left, I was surrounded suddenly by a dazzling white light in a flash of lightning. I had stopped falling, and was now standing up in mid-air. My science professor would have an apoplectic fit if he could have seen me then.

In fact, just about anybody would have had an apoplectic fit if they could have seen me then.

Beneath my feet was a long cylinder, sparkling with electrical energy.

I gasped.

Zeus' master bolt.

Technically, standing on top of this as I was doing should have fried me to a Mexican crisp, but hey, I wasn't complaining about serious breaches in the laws of physics.

The bolt began to slowly descend through the atmosphere (slowly for a bolt of lightning, immensely fast for a pubescent half-blood). Just as we were about to impact on a large herd of cows (none of whom looked remotely amoosed (whoops, pun)), the bolt swerved and began to speed along the countryside, around one hundred metres above the ground.

Eventually it braked swiftly, hovering just above a large metallic building in the middle of a heath. A nearby sign read:

HAETHORW ARPIROT

"Hawthorn Apricot?" I struggled.

The master bolt crackled, rolling hypothetical eyes, before disappearing from beneath my sneakers and hurtling off back to Zeus' throne room for an exclusive luxury spa treatment and pampering session.

Maybe not then, but it was a nice thought while it lasted.

A security guard appeared on the roof, brandishing a Walkman, taking large threatening strides from one side to another.

"What are you doing up here, Sonny Jim?" he asked. His cockney British accent (you know _My Fair Lady_, every Christmas vacation – mom always watches it) came as a culture shock to me, being used to America for the first fourteen and a half years of my life.

"I…dunno. I…got lost."

The guard rolled his eyes, and I could hear him mutter under his breath and behind that walrus of a moustache:

"Americans – all off their heads."

Ooh. Below the belt or what?

"C'mon," the guard announced, grabbing my arm. "We'll take you down to reception and see if anybody wants to claim you."

"So I'm like – lost property?"

"Kid, I don't get paid to stand around here all day, y'know," he sighed, "so please be quiet and let me lead you on."

Great. Obnoxious and patronising too.

--------------------------------------------------

And now all of Lord Typhon's thousand snake heads were flirting with Lady Arachne at once.

"Charmed, I'm sure," she snapped, "but I'm not on your side anymore, my Lord. Those days are over. And besides…what would your wife Lady Echidna say?"

"Ssshe'sss too busssy pampering that blasssted Chimera child of hersss," Typhon grumbled. "Ever sssince that explosssion at the Ssst Louis Arch, it'sss never really been the sssame."

"Well, poor sweet little blood-sucking monster," Arachne yawned. "Now, if you've finished your serpentine sweet talk, would you care to crawl into a gutter and die?"

"Feisssty, eh?" Typhon hissed, unaware of Thalia taking an aim at him with her electric spear. "I like a little ssspice in my women…"

"Is this curry hot enough for you then?" Thalia yelled, ramming her spear up his backside.

"AARGH!" Typhon yelled, as the electricity sparked and frazzled his rear end spectacularly. Yanking the spear from the back of his trousers, he hurled it back at Thalia, who avoided it by the skin of her teeth. Angered, he leapt over the seats, grabbed a fairly startled Annabeth by the waist and backed into the cockpit.

"Congratulationsss, half-bloodsss," he hissed. "You may have won thisss little ssspat, but the war isss not over! Asss they sssay in Franccce – _au revoir_!"

And with that, he burst into a shower of gold light, and Annabeth disappeared with him.

**A/N: I know I'm cruel with these constant cliffies! I've recently devolved into cliffie-mania, after reading most of the multi-chapter fics here on Read and review, my excccellent readersss (as Typhon might say)!**

**NEXT TIME… on The Chaos Code!**

**Chapter 12 – I Conclude That All Airports Are Murderous**

**Heathrow Airport, legendary for its badness, has just been taken to a whole new level with some monstrous visitors…**

**A quest to save Annabeth begins…**

**Kronos' destructive time powers are finally saying HI!**

**AIRPORTS! MONSTERS! QUESTS! ROMANCES! AND DESTRUCTIVE POWERS IN THE ARRIVALS LOUNGE! **

**Only next time on…THE CHAOS CODE!**


	12. Chapter 12: Bang Goes My Spare Underwear

CHAPTER 12 – I CONCLUDE THAT ALL AIRPORTS ARE MURDEROUS

CHAPTER 12 – BANG GOES MY SPARE UNDERWEAR

**A/N: SORRY FOR THE VERY LONG ABSENCE AND LACK OF UPDATES! I've been doing tons of homework, coursework, tests, as well as a school production – I've been knackered. And on top of that I've had the double whammy iceberg of writer's block.**

**This next chapter may feel like a bit of filler, but I hope there'll be some kind of adrenaline surge in it.**

"SEAWEED BRAIN!" Thalia shrieked, vaulting the security barriers and pinning me to the floor. "YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"I won't be if you pin me to the ground like that, Pinecone Face," I said weakly. Thalia got up and dusted herself off, careful not to show the scarlet blush of embarrassment trickling across her face. _What the hell? I'm using loads of poetry now. Blowfish is an English teacher – perhaps that's why._

"How did you survive?"

"A little help from your dad of all people," I remarked, noticing Thalia's lips murmuring a quick prayer of thanks. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you how."

"Try me."

"Let's just say it broke most of the laws of physics, alright?"

"Wicked," Luke swept towards them, a grin missing several teeth spanning his face. "All in one day in the life of the Great Chosen One, Perseus Jackson." His remaining teeth dripped with liquid sarcasm.

I balled my fists instinctively, but Thalia shot us both quelling looks.

"Percy, don't react. We've got enough holding us back as it is. Luke – just don't push things, okay?"

Was it me, or did that last phrase sound a tiny bit…soft?

"Let's move on, anyway," I said as Eris and Arachne made their way (walking or limping) towards us, the latter looking incredibly discomforted. "Where's Annabeth?"

Thalia glanced at Luke, Eris and Arachne nervously.

"Erm…Percy…we need to talk…"

--

"That creepy snake-thing did what now?" I croaked. "To Annabeth?"

"Weren't you mad at her though?" Luke pointed out. "From your relationship on the plane, I thought you didn't care that much anymore?"

"Is it me or has hanging out with a dead guy in a coffin made you a bit more bitter than you used to be?" I snapped.

"Is it me of has saving the world a few too many times cranked your pint-sized ego up to eleven?"

"Stop it – both of you," Thalia growled, holding both of us at arm's length. I couldn't help but notice her grip on Luke seemed far more relaxed than the near-Spartan chokehold she was holding me in. "We need to find Annabeth – and fast. So let's go."

"Hold on," Grover piped up. He had almost become invisible to our mini-power struggle. "We need to get our bags," he said, pointing up towards a sign saying (what looked like to me) GABEGAG CLAIMER.

"What are Gabegags?" I blurted out, not considering my dyslexia. I flashed back slightly to the time with Smelly Gabe, and how much I had wanted to gag him. The Medusa's head provided a fair enough alternative.

"Baggage, Percy," Grover sighed, swigging espressos like someone diagnosed with clinical depression.

Wait – poor taste.

--

We stared, glum-faced as the weather outside (I know the British have something about April showers, but I was thinking more of the bathroom kind), as the luggage arrived for the twenty-bajillionth time on the conveyor belt. None of it was ours.

Nobody dared raise his or her voice. We were all unnaturally silent. Grover had given up on the packaging of the in-flight meal. Arachne had given up on moaning about how internal cushioning was a blessing for artificial legs. Eris had given up on causing spite by pinching a kissing couple nearby and evanescing quickly.

I really need to stop being a poet – damn you and your inter-continental word power, Blowfish.

And even Luke had nothing bitchy to say about me, so consequently I laid off him for a while. How could anybody be sure of the fact that he was good now? Thalia and Annabeth seemed convinced, but even to me and my imperceptiveness (not again) they were practically in love with him.

But Grover seemed to believe him as well – and Grover being in love with Luke was a disturbing idea, at least to me.

"Those are our bags, correct?" Arachne finally said, as a pile of familiar suitcases neared us on the conveyor belt. Grover frowned.

"Percy – what did you pack?"

"Spare clothes – shield – spare underwear – why?"

"Is there a reason any of that's vibrating?"

"Grover, I know you've never been good at innuendo but…"

"Percy," Thalia faltered, "your bag looks like it's ready to go into orbit."

Finally, I glanced across towards my suitcase, which seemed to be rattling – quaking even. It bounced up and down, shook itself, juddered everywhere, nearly fell off – at one point I could swear it was doing the Hand Jive.

"What is it?" I murmured to Grover, since Annabeth wasn't here for urgent Greek mythology consulting.

"It's too far off to see, but it's getting closer."

"Then we run," I whispered, as the suitcase began to do the Macarena.

"Don't make any sudden movements," Grover said through clenched teeth. "It's _serpentinia tentacula_ – a kind of plant. Somebody must have put seeds in your suitcase before we left, Percy. People put them in luggage to kill their enemies – pockets, satchels, travelling bags, handbags…"

My mind was engulfed (I won't bother now) with a mental image of a handbag throwing a hissy fit in the middle of Manhattan. Bad image.

"But they're just seeds. They can't grow."

"You'd be surprised – a little bit of heat can make them engulf an entire building. Add a little moisture – boom!"

"That'd be my spare underwear then," I muttered.

"Just make no sudden movements. If you do, they'll just grab you even quicker."

"Thanks for the consolation, Goat Boy," Thalia snapped. "It's die or die anyway. EAT RIPTIDE, WEED!"

Before I could even blink, Thalia had grabbed Anaklusmos from my pocket and hurled it with deadly accuracy at the suitcase. The lid detached in mid-air, and it grew into a sword, before impaling itself in the luggage.

This just made whatever was inside the luggage even angrier. It unlocked and huge tentacle-like vines sprang out, flailing and shooting out towards us. The mortals all around seemed unaware that anything was happening. Killer weeds came with added Mist, it seemed. I know the free gifts are the ones that nobody wants, but this was just stupid.

I went to draw my sword, before realising that Thalia had just used it as a long-range poking stick. Fortunately, the creature threw it back in pen form towards me, which I caught on the spur of the moment.

I would have said thanks but then I remembered this monster was sent to kill me, which more than compromised.

We backed against a wall, and readied ourselves for the weed to give us a fatal Bear Hug, but it never came.

The conveyor belt turned sharply and the weed-filled suitcase went with it, heading out to go around a never-ending cycle of conveyor belt. Along with my spare underwear – on second thoughts, I'll just quit mentioning the spare underwear.

**A/N: FINALLY, HE RETURNS!**

**Yes, I know it's been long, but this idea came to me and I decided to carry on with this story. I owe it to all the brilliant reviews I've been getting. Remember folks, READ AND REVIEW – CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS ENTIRELY WELCOME! 3074 hits at the time of writing this - what a number.**

**It's time I acknowledged a few of my reviewers:**

**VEROP – Enough said. Hands 3 pies**

**HOGWARTSGIRL52 – What can I say? My very first reviewer – and with me throughout Hands 3 cookies**

**PS – I'm offering my services as a beta reader. Check out the profile for more info.**

**ANYWAY – NEXT TIME ON THE CHAOS CODE:**

**CHAPTER 13 – THE MOST PERSISTENT GIRL EVER**

**Percy and co meet up with an old friend. Start hedging your bets as to whom!**

**SEE YOU NEXT TIME!**


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